SPOILER ALERT!...Bela Karolyi Thinks We Made a Mistake?

[taylortumbles]

Tim Dagget said during the commentary that due to the 2 per country rule, and because of the start values of the gymnasts who did make it into the AA, that this was basically a competition between 4 girls. This means they had a 25% of winning and a 75% chance of medalling. Those types of odds are a joke and really makes it less of a competition and this is suppose to be the Olympic Games. I'm sorry but a win at these games in the AA is not impressive AT ALL. The odds were way too high.

 

[agymmom]

How is the gymnast all around different than the men's track & field sprints? Most likely a Jamaican was going to win and an American had a shot at the medals...most of the people out on the track were not going to win. Did it make it any less exciting or impressive? It sure didn't for me!

 

[txgymfan]

Same goes for swimming. Many of the US Swimmers who did not make the US team, or did not make it in certain events may have medaled if they had been included.

I think Tim Dagget should be repalced as a commentator. When asked why is there a 2 per country rule, instead of giving the reasoning behind the rule (which inluded benefitting the USA). He said it was a bad rule and made up stats.

If an AA win at the Olympics is not impressive, then NO international win is impressive. The 2 per country rule applys to World Championships too. The last time another US gymnast was left out for the same reason (either Gabby or Aly) for the 2011 worlds which Jordyn won and is used as justification for this complaint. The arument is cirular, if another US gymnast was in world AA Jordyn may not have won.

 

[taylortumbles]

That was the entire point of my post, which I thought was obvious.
The rules prevent a real competition of the very best athletes.

 

[txgymfan]

My point is that it is EVERY competition. If THIS competition is "not impressive AT ALL" then NO gymnastics competition is impressive.

I think that an AA win at the Olympics is VERY impressive as are wins at Worlds and Nationals which both have restrictions who can enter.

 

[wallinbl]

That was the entire point of my post, which I thought was obvious.
The rules prevent a real competition of the very best athletes.

No, it makes the competition be two rounds, and you must excel in both rounds in order to win. In that regard, winning is more difficult than if the rule were removed.

 

[wandrewsjr]

It is not much different than any other sport in the Olympics, getting through the qualifying process is the toughest part, and most athletes primary goal. If you make it to the finals of a swimming or track event, you have about a 40 percent chance of getting a medal.

 

[Springerboy16]

Jordyn Wieber Injured? Coach Says U.S. Gymnast May Have Stress Fracture In Leg Apparantly she had a stress fracture the entire time which might have affected her performances.

 

[taylortumbles]

I miss the good old days when there was less glitter and glamour and everyone was scored out of a 10.0.
Less entitlement, more focus on work ethic. When training came before tweeting, building a fan base, and becoming a celebrity.

I was shocked by the attitudes of some gymnasts and lack of respect, and I'm not referring to any particular country, but the Olympic gymnastics community as a whole. Then the fact that people/fans make excuses for their behavior, wow! If I acted like some of those girls did I've would've gotten smacked.

 

[Krystan]

Less entitlement, more focus on work ethic. When training came before tweeting, building a fan base, and becoming a celebrity.

To imply that any of these girls shirked their training is just unfair. Any of the girls that made it to that competition worked their buts off for years on end just to get there. I have no idea where this "kids these days" remark comes from. It seems to me that this US team was a lot more emotionally mature and classy than any before them. Yes, they like their social media (like any other teenager these days, but really I didn't see a sport where this wasn't the case), but these kids are rock solid athletes who have put in the work. Not sure where you're seeing a poor work ethic in this Olympic team???

I didn't see entitlement at all, more anger and disappointment directed inwardly. McKayla was angry, not with her medal, but with her own performance. Entitlement leads to blaming others for your own mistakes/failures. I didn't see Jordyn or McKayla blaming anyone but themselves. I will admit to being floored at some of the poor attitude/behaviors of another country's athletes, dirty looks they gave to the officials, etc... but not from the U.S.

 

[taylortumbles]

Um, I don't think I mentioned the US. I said it wasn't directed towards any particular country, but now that you bring it up.....I was mostly shocked by Russia. I remember back in the day those girls didn't step out of line! I was shocked of how their coach talked about how hard it was to keep them in line and that they were 'divas' and acted like it was a legit excuse! Absolute shock! Huge change from before! Of course, many of this could have been elaborated with creative editing, as we know they love to do that in the tv world. Also, some of the heavy make-up was very distracting.

" Entitlement implies blaming others for your own mistakes/failures."
Um no, that is not what entitlement means.

The drama and fight-picking on this website is ridiculous lately. Can't even have a civil conversation or discuss different opinions respectfully anymore.

 

[Krystan]

I really don't see that I was disrespectful or fight-picking, just disagreeing. It seemed like you were making a blanket statement about all of the gymnasts, and I completely disagreed (it sounds like I misunderstood, so I'm sorry for that).

However - I totally AGREE about Russia! Yikes, they were out of line - even my dd commented about their disrespectful attitude.

 

[cbone]

I hate to seem like I'm "fight-picking", but Maroney was every bit as bad as the Russians, IMO. It's easy to dismiss Maroney's reaction as being upset with herself and her performance, but I'm sure Russians would say the same about their team. As to the way these girls were portrayed (Maroney and the Russians) I have a hard time calling it "creative editing" since it came off as bad live as it did for the prime-time show.

To me, bad behavior is bad behavior regardless of nationality.

 

[wallinbl]

I don't have an issue with anyone expressing frustration or disappointment in their own performance/failure. Planting a vault on your butt is surely disappointing and you can rightly be frustrated that it wasn't your best. Same goes for a double back to your knees, falling from the beam or failing to grab the bar. That doesn't release you from being gracious, representing your team/country, and being grateful to be standing on the podium at the Olympics.